Jo Farrell said that each year officers were deployed to “well over 100,000 mental health-related incidents”, which is equivalent to the work of between 500 and 600 full-time officers.

In more than 87 per cent of those incidents there was no crime.

She said “resetting the parameters” around mental health call-outs “will help ensure the most appropriate help is provided and allow officers to return to preventing crime and responding to threat, harm and risk as soon as possible after the moment of crisis has passed and public safety is assured”.

She added: “I need to give courage to frontline sergeants and inspectors that they are able to say to officers: ‘We need to come away from that incident now, we have taken that individual to accident and emergency and they are waiting to be seen.’

“Police Scotland must focus intensely on our core duties and what matters to the people we serve. If what we do doesn’t protect the vulnerable from harm, prevent crime or support our officers and staff, we will challenge that and redirect resources to prioritise the front line.”